Hosta parentage

Thanks for the great feedback on the hosta image.  Since most folks don’t have experience in plant breeding, we thought it might be interesting to share the crosses and parents involved to get to this point.  Our Hosta is PDN#10-004 and is a cross of PDN07-0793  x ((PDN05-156 x PDN04-180) (kikutii x ‘Gemstone’ (venusta ‘Minima’ x ‘Dorset Blue’) (longipes ‘Tardiflora’ x sieboldiana) x (venusta ‘Minima’ x self)) x PDN07-0100 ((‘Faith’ (‘Evening Magic’ (montana gold x sieboldiana) x ‘Big Daddy’ (‘Fortunei Robusta’) x PDN04-182) (kikutii x ‘Gemstone’) venusta ‘Minima’ x ‘Dorset Blue’ (longipes ‘Tardiflora x sieboldiana) x ‘Blue Mouse Ears’ (Blue Cadet sport))  So, the species included in creating this are Hosta venusta, sieboldiana, kikutii, longipes, and montana.

7 thoughts on “Hosta parentage”

  1. Are these enough comments (my e-mail is filling up with them) to make it a sure thing that you will offer this hosta for sale? When would that happen? Will you let us know what you name it?

  2. Barbara Holdridge

    I’ve always wanted to know the correct way of citing crosses orally. Is it correct to say, e.g.,
    “montana gold cross sieboldiana” or
    “montana gold crossed with sieboldiana” or another
    verbally correct identification?
    Thanks for responding.

  3. Were you trying for a specific result, or is this just one of many crosses made as “shots in the dark” to see what they produced? How much of hybridizing is skill vs luck?
    Of course I’m pretty sure that many years of this work probably give you a strong “sense” of what might emerge.
    Just wondered.

    1. Great question. Each breeder approaches things differently. All of our crosses are made with a specific result in mind. That said, we occasionally come up with an unexpected result. Each offspring then leads us down a new path. Before we make a cross, we fill in a spreadsheet with the expected result. This helps us to cull unwanted seedlings early in the process. Without doing this, you wind up with more offspring than you can manage or evaluate. Certain traits like a lack of vigor, susceptibility to insects, thin textured leaves, or an undesirable leaf color allow us to cull seedlings at the one leaf stage. Breeding for fragrance is the most difficult, in part because you can’t really cull well until they flower.

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